Katie Couric loves this “delicious” zucchini and white bean soup that’s perfect for spring
Corey Nickols/Getty Images; Food Good collage
Warmer weather brings many changes to our lives, including pesky pollen, shorter sleeves, and daylight saving time. But the best change may be all the fresh produce arriving in stores and farmers markets. We can’t wait to get our hands on green asparagus, tender spinach, and juicy strawberries, not to mention the pumpkins, tomatoes, and cucumbers that arrive in summer.
Spring is also a time to shake up your menu — sprinkle fresh, green recipes alongside your favorite creamy, cozy recipes. For those spring days when it’s cool at night but warm during the day, a vegetarian soup can be the perfect meal. We like to add a vegetarian minestra or a broccoli cheese soup to the weekly lineup, and Katie Couric just added a new recipe to our list of must-try spring soups with a super easy zucchini soup.
Related: The 40 essential soups you need to make this spring
Couric took to Instagram with her friend and recipe blogger, Kelly Rizzo, to share the recipe, which is easy to follow and packed with veggies. The recipe is a recreation of a cozy soup Rizzo’s nonna used to make when she was growing up. It’s easy to make in just a few steps and it’s full of tender pieces of zucchini, spicy garlic and protein-based cannellini beans.
The zuke soup has only eight ingredients: zucchini, onion, garlic, cannellini beans, chicken or vegetable stock, Italian herbs, fresh basil, and Parmesan cheese. You’ll also need a few pantry staples: olive oil, salt, and pepper.
To start, Rizzo and Couric get to work chopping four large zucchini and half an onion, then mincing garlic and chopping fresh basil. Now that all the veggies are done, it’s time to put a casserole on the stove and ready to go. In a pan, combine the zucchini and onions with some olive oil over medium heat and sauté until soft. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add the broth and turn the heat to medium. Then add beans, including the liquid in the can, plus herbs and basil. Let the soup simmer on low heat for about 20 minutes. To thicken the soup, crush the ingredients against the side of the pan with a wooden spoon until the consistency is creamier. Then add 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, stir and let the soup cook for a few more minutes, continuing to squash the veggies and beans against the pan.
Related: Katie Couric Says This Giada De Laurentiis 5 Star Summer Pasta Recipe Is “My Favorite!!!”
Ladle the soup into bowls, sprinkle with some fresh basil and you’re ready to eat. The result will be light but creamy, without even a hint of cream. If you opt for vegetable stock and a vegan twist on Parmesan cheese, you could also make this soup without any animal products. And best of all, Couric gave her bowl a rave review: “It’s delicious, it really is,” she says in the video after trying her first bite. “I would definitely make this at home.”
If you want to add some soup garnishes to the dinner table, you can serve this soup with a piece of crusty whole-wheat bread, or perhaps opt for a café-style soup-and-salad combo. Salads like our Cucumber & Avocado Salad or Spring Salad with Pickled Shallot & Avocado come together pretty quickly and add a cool, refreshing counterpoint to a bowl of creamy vegetable soup.
Whatever you pair with this soup, you’ll get a delicious dose of the vegetable our dietitians call a “nutritional powerhouse,” all topped off with savory cheese and herbaceous seasonings. Now all you need is a warm spring evening to tie it all together.